We Will Not Be Your Soldiers
by SpiritFigther88
Summary: An AU of the Movie, Logan, based on experiment X-01 through X-23. The kids have all been aged up to 18
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue: The First Batch**

 _Portland, Oregon_

Dr. Sarah Kinney had just reached the floor to her apartment, still annoyed that her building had not yet fixed the elevator. She's still frowning when she walks to her front door but stops when she notices someone waiting. She can't help but smile when she recognizes her old colleague.

"Zander Rice," she greets. "It's been a long time my friend."

"Sarah," the man greets, opening his arms. "You look lovelier than ever."

Sarah fights back the urge to roll her eyes. "Flattery will only increase my suspicions as to why you're here," she says. She opens her door and motions for Zander to follow her. Sarah used to work with Zander when she studied the evolution of mutants, but now that mutants were extinct, largely due to Mr. Rice, she worked as a surgeon. She dropped her belongings on her dining table as she took a seat. "What can I do for you?" she asks. She could tell this was a visit that was strictly business, however she couldn't deny the excitement in the other man's demeanor.

"I'm here to offer you a job," He says, handing her several files. "The kind we dreamed of when we first started." Sarah raised an eyebrow but said nothing. She took the files and began looking over them. Her interest piqued as soon as her eyes finished the first sentence. She continued reading, not believing the man in front of her could get these resources, it was too good to be true. But it was. Everything was laid out right in front of her, facts and all.

"This type of project is illegal in the stat-"

"The facility is in Mexico City," Dr. Rice interrupts. Sarah nods, forming more questions in her head.

"The women who will carry the embryos," she says. "They'll be a liability once the experiments are born."

"Assuming if they survive the labor," He adds, smirking. "They will be taken care of."

Sarah looks through over the DNA samples Dr. Rice wants to use. "Alison Blaire? Rahne Sinclair? Santo Vaccarro? The subjects are a bit disappointing are they not?"

"My investors don't want to risk the heavy hitters until a success rate is determined outside of hypothetical scenarios," He explains, taking out one more folder and handing it to her. "But who am I not to take a little risk?"

Sarah's eyes widened slightly at the DNA sample of the new file. "Emma Frost? She's probably the strongest telepath we have stored away thanks to Trask industries." She pushed the files away from her, having seen enough. "But why me?"

"You're the only one I can trust as my partner, Sarah," he admits. "I never knew anyone else who understands the importance to control the mutant gene as much as you do. Plus your research in over the years will help with my growth serum successfully triggering the gene in the experiments."

"I see," she says, standing up from her chair. With a great smile, Dr. Kinney outstretched her hand. "It will be honor to work beside you on this project, Dr. Rice"

Zander also smiled greatly as he took her hand. "Get ready, Dr. Kinney. We're going to change the world."

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.

.

 _Nine Months Later_

Dr. Kinney walked through the labor room feeling very accomplished. All six experiments survived the pregnancy and had relatively normal births. Two of the surrogate mothers died during childbirth, the rest would be taken care of. Looking down at the six crying infants, Dr. Kinney pulls out her recorder and begins at the first baby.

"Experiment **X-01** , Simone. Gender: Female. DNA Sample: Jonas Graymalkin."

"Experiment **X-02** , Hilda. Gender: Female. DNA Sample: Rahne Sinclair."

"Experiment **X-03** , Martha. Gender: Female. DNA Sample: Alison Blaire."

"Experiment **X-04** , Darek. Gender: Male. DNA Sample: Santo Vaccarro."

"Experiment **X-05** , Dino. Gender: Male. DNA Sample: Hisako Ichiki."

"Experiment **X-06** , Emmett. Gender: Male. DNA Sample: Emma Frost."

Sarah stopped to stare at the last baby, who wasn't crying nearly as bad as all the others, his blue eyes looking right at her. "All subjects are reported healthy on all tests. Tomorrow we will begin prep for the growth serum." She turns off the tape recorder and leaves the room. As she leaves she motions for the three head nurses: Gabriella Martinez, Dolores Aguilar, and Paola Escobar, each go in to check on the subjects. They've been told that the facility is testing for cures for cancer, too dumb and poor to think anything of it. As she heads back to her office she notices Dr. Rice approaching her with another younger man.

"Dr. Kinney!" He greets. "I'd like you to meet Pierce, he's head of the facilities security team."

"Pleasure," She says, extending her hand. She doesn't hide her surprise when he reaches for it with his robotic arm.

"Pleasures all mine, ma'am," He says. "I'm just here to make sure these freaky experiment don't rip off any heads."

"Well if I'm good at my job," she says, winking at the gentlemen. "They'll be ripping off the heads of all our enemies."

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The next day all the subjects were put in pods for their first exposure to the growth serum developed by herself and Dr. Rice. The first session would work to age the subjects significantly, bringing the subjects appearance to that of an eighteen year old but with more developed minds. She stood in the room with Dr. Rice and Pierce and, when Dr. Rice gave the cue, switched on the pods. For hours they heard the babies crying turn into soft whimpers of children until finally yells and screams of young adults. When she switched the pods off she was full of delight. It worked. Their serum was a huge success, the six teenagers now standing before her being living proof. Dr. Rice walked up to X-05, Dino, and started checking his vitals.

"Do you know where you are?" he asks.

"I'm in a building," the subject answers. "The same one I was born in yesterday." Dr. Rice was all grins when he sends the subjects away.

"How long until the next session?" He asks.

"This time next week," she answers. "Until then I suggest conditioning them so they're at their top best when exposed. It'll raise the chances of mutant gene activity."

"Splendid," He says, leaving the room. "I told you, Sarah. We're changing the world!"

*A/N: Hey everyone! So this story is going to be loosely based on the movie, Logan and it will follow the lives of all the experiments Laura grew up with. (X-01 through X-22). I've decided to age up all of them because I'm not entirely comfortable writing about children going through what these guys will be going through and also all the experiments will be OCs (so Rictor, Delilah, Rebecca, etc. will not be in this version). Please let me know your thoughts so far and what powers you hope to see from the future experiments!


	2. Chapter 2

I.

The dark room where Emmett stayed in suddenly lit up and Emmett squinted his eyes until they adjusted to the harsh light. It was the people in charge intentions for the light to signal him to wake up, but he seemed to always wake up before the light came on anyway. He got up from the mattress he was lying in and walked over to the door in the small room. The door was made of large bars so he was able to look at the boy who lived in the room across from his.

He has been alive for two days. Or, at least, it's been two days since he had awoken from the pod, naked and screaming. There were others who were in pods as well, but he hadn't seen any of them except for the boy across from him. The boy waved to him, Emmett returned the gesture as the sounds of footsteps, a cart being pushed, and someone whistling, reached his ears. It wasn't long before the same woman who had visited him yesterday- Gabriella, she said her name was- stopped in front of him with a tray of food.

"Good morning, Emmett," She said, smiling at him as she handed him the tray. Another woman did the same for the boy across from him. It was the same food they had yesterday morning; toast, scrambled eggs, a box of juice, and an apple. He watched as the two women moved on, another following them with a cart with four more plates on it- for the others, he assumed. Like always, a blonde man who's right arm was made of metal walked leisurely behind them. He was the one responsible for the whistling and as his boots passed he smirked at him. Emmett did not know who he was, but he disliked him.

Emmett ate his food at his desk and waited until Gabriella and the other women came back to collect his tray, only this time that didn't happen. No, instead Emmett quickly stood up as his door _beeped_ open and the blonde man came in, followed by two armed men. He glanced at all of three of them, not sure what was happening. His bathroom break wasn't for a couple of more hours. The blonde male nudged his head out the room. "Let's not wait around for the rain to fall, kid," he tells him. "Get moving."

Something inside him wanted to defy the man but his legs betrayed him and soon he was in the hallway, facing five others around his age. They all, like him, wore a white long sleeved shirt along with white pants and white slip ons. He glanced to the boy that he was familiar with before cringing at the feel of the blonde man's hand wrapped around his neck. He groaned as he was shoved to the end of the line, right behind another male who was much taller than him. The two armed men followed behind him as their leader took them all through a series of doors, leading to a wide open common room.

"The boss upstairs figured y'all can start getting to know each other so the nurses set up this little area for you," The blonde mumbles, walking away. Suddenly the male he's familiar with breaks for the door, but the other man is quick to slam him down with his boot. Emmett goes to help him up and when he looks at the blonde's face again, he's smirking. "Play nice or we'll be back." The door behind him slams shut and Emmett is now alone with the five strangers. The male who lives across from him is angry, his chest rising shallowly. "Who the hell is that guy?"

"I heard one of the nurses say it was Pierce," the dark haired girl mumbles. Emmett looks around the room. There's a couch and next to it is a table with all types of reading material around it. Across the room are a bunch of board games stacked up against each other, as well as a deck of playing cards on top. There's even a radio and a soccer ball.

"We were all together," the blonde girl says, smiling as she looks at each of them. "When we were born, we were all together." Everyone in the room awkwardly looks at each other, none of them knowing what to say. Again the blonde girl speaks up. "I'm Martha," she says. When no one responds, she turns to the tall boy next to her. "You live across from me, what's your name?"

"Dino," He replies, lowering his head as he runs a hand through his short black hair.

"I'm Simone," The dark haired girl announces. Then the red haired girl, Hilda, followed by the male who lived across from him, Darek. Then they all turned to Emmett who stood silent for a moment until Martha laughed.

"We're not going to bite," she says.

He sighs. "My name's Emmett," He finally says, shrugging his shoulders. "At least, that's what Gabriella tells me."

"Anybody got any idea why we're here?" Darek asks, looking around the room. Emmett follows his glance until they land on a camera installed in the corner of the ceiling. The door opens again and Emmett tenses up until he sees it's just the nurses, all smiling.

"It's good to see you all out of your rooms!" The oldest one, Dolores, says. "We hope you like how we set the room. We all brought over old stuff from our homes. Why are you still standing? Enjoy yourselves, you only have a few hours."

No one moved, except for Simone, who inched closer to Hilda. Emmett just had the suspicion something was going on and even though he couldn't read everyone else's minds, he could tell they were thinking along the same lines. When it appeared even Martha wasn't going to move from her spot, the nurses started to look hurt. Gabriella, the one who always gave him his food, turned to Dolores. "They're scared," she said. "They don't trust us-"

"We trust you!" Emmett suddenly interrupts, startling the nurses. He didn't know why he said it but afterwards he knew they were true. He might not trust whoever is running this facility and he definitely doesn't trust Pierce, but he trusts these three women in front of him. "My friends and I-" He said, again amazed at the choice of words. When he glanced at them he was glad to see none of them object, Martha even smiled. "My friends and I were just wondering what's happening to us."

The two younger nurses looked at Dolores, who let out a sigh. "You were all very sick babies, each of you diagnosed with a very deadly cancer. None of you were expected to live so Dr. Rice and his team of specialist gave you a serum to fight back the cancer cells, it why you've all aged so fast," She explains. Emmett takes awhile to process the words. It's Dino who recovers first.

"Are we still sick?" He asks.

"Yes, _mijo_ ," she says. "It's why they have you locked in those rooms all day. But don't worry! They still have another serum to give you. It's our jobs to make sure you're in perfect condition which is why we begged them to let you have some free time because no one can get better without a little fun!"

"What are they going to do to us?" Hilda asks. The nurses look at each other again, none of them knowing how to answer until the third one, Paola, perks up. She runs over to table and grabs one of the think paper books on top and brings it over. "They're going to make you superheroes!"

Emmett takes the book from her examining it as he feels Dino and Darek crowd him. The front cover shows a man shooting rays out of his eyes, a woman with white hair flying above him, and a man completely covered in ice beside him. Emmett furrows his brow at the bold letters at the top.

"The X-Men?"

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.

Martha and the others were granted more and more time out of their rooms as the days passed, but at the cost of more armed guards. It was easy to ignore them, especially once they all started preparing for their final serum in a few days. The nurses made sure they were in top condition mentally, physically, and emotionally. Although they were all advanced learners thanks to their growth serums, they were all developing their own unique talents. Darek and Simone were the strongest, though Darek seemed to be more consistent with it. Hilda was the fastest. Dino had the best memory, able to recite 876 decimal places of Pi just by staring at a photo for five minutes. Martha herself proved to be an excellent singer. After that discovery, Dolores and the other nurses went out and got her a karaoke machine. Emmett, who seemed to be the group's unspoken leader now, was more intelligent than the nurses could ever predict. He was so smart that Dr. Rice and Dr. Kinney were called in to see him themselves, making it the first time the group saw the faces of the pair responsible for saving their lives. Martha had wanted to sing for them, to thank them, but they only wanted to see Emmett.

"You can always sing for me baby girl," Pierce mumbled to her from his post. Martha ignored him and headed to the training room, where Dino was kicking a punching bag. He smiles when he catches her gaze and Martha waves at him as she starts running on the treadmill.

"Please tell me you were a little disappointed in the doctors," He says, taking a seat on a bench in front of her, wiping his sweat on a towel.

"What do you mean?" She asks.

"I don't know I just expected them to be more..." Dino waves his hand in the air as if it will help him find the word he's looking for. "Kinder? For people doing everything they can to save us, they didn't really stick around long enough to really get to know us."

"They're busy, Dino," She tells him, but she couldn't agree with him more. It was almost like they didn't want to get attached. Unlike the nurses, who never stopped showing their kindness, the two doctors seemed adamant on hiding theirs. "Or maybe they don't want to get attached to something that can still potentially die."

"That's another thing," Dino says, bringing his voice down. "Do you really think we're still sick? With everything we've been learning, I haven't seen the slightest sign of cancer in any of us. And I would know, I recognized them all."

"So what, you think Dolores lied to us?" She asks, rolling her eyes. _Or,_ she thought, turning off the machine. _Someone lied to her?_ "If that's the case then why are we here?"

Dino shrugs his shoulders. "Guess we'll find out, won't we?"

.

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Emmett was awoken bright and early the day he and the others were due to get the serum. He rubbed his eyes and waited for them to adjust to the bright light before getting out of bed and stretching. Dino and Martha came up to him the day before, telling him about their concerns for Dr. Rice and Dr. Kinney. After meeting the pair, he couldn't help but agree that he was also suspicious. They were both cold to him when they tested him on his brain power, almost like he was some sort of project, like an experiment to them. Not like someone they were trying to save. Like Dino he also wondered why none of them were showing signs of weakness, but with Pierce and his men guarding everything, there really wasn't much they could do.

The door to his room beeped open and Gabriela came in with his breakfast. "Today's the day! Eat up, you'll need your strength." Emmett nodded and took his tray, quickly biting into his toast. He thought carefully as he chewed and swallowed, before glancing at his favorite nurse.

"Will it hurt?" He asks, watching as concern spreads through her face.

"Yes," she answers quickly. It's what he liked about her, she always told him things straight up. "But you are strong, Emmett! And so are the others! You're going to make it." She sat next to him and pulled him into a sideways hug. He mumbled a 'thanks' and went for his eggs when Pierce walked in. Gabriela was annoyed as soon as he walked in. "Let him finish eating!"

"The boss is tired of waiting," He said, shoving her aside. Emmett quickly shot up, ready to defend one of the only kind people in this entire building.

"Don't touch her-" Emmett was cut off as Pierce slammed him into the wall behind him, whipping out a syringe from nowhere and quickly injecting it into the side of his neck. Almost immediately Emmett felt the effect, his vision getting blurry as he suddenly felt very drowsy despite just waking up. The last thing he remembers before passing out is Pierce saying something about "Making sure the device has his DNA."

When he comes to, he's strapped down on a hospital bed. Dr. Kinney is working beside him, completely dressed in her lab coat and face mask, while Pierce and his men stood by the exit. One thing he quickly noticed, was the shape of everyone. Although he knew she was trying to look professional, Dr. Kinney's hair was a bit messy and her lab coat looked as if something ripped it open with claws. Pierce and his guards were sporting all sorts of injuries and the exit they were blocking once had a door. When he looked around he saw various holes in the walls and when he looked up at the ceiling he saw burn marks.

"I'm ready to proceed," Dr. Kinney said, revealing another syringe, this time full with a glowing blue liquid. He noticed three syringes with the same liquid lined up next to her. Pierce and his men raised their weapons but Dr. Kinney waved them off. "I don't think those will be necessary, he shouldn't cause too much damage. However, if I do anything unorthodox, alarm surveillance to switch on the device." Then she took out her recorder. "Begin serum dosage to experiment **X-06**."

"Another mind freak," Pierce mumbles, lowering his weapon before whispering into the comm-link in his ear. Dr. Kinney ignores him as she leans over Emmett, wiping at his arm and tapping it until his veins show. Without any warning she stuck the needle inside him. Emmett bit down on his lip as he felt the sting but afterwards just watched as she injected the liquid inside him. A few moments and nothing happened, Emmett almost thought the guards were all overreacting. Almost.

The first wave of pain hit him like a train. He felt as if glass was traveling through his veins as he arched in his restraints, screaming. Dr Kinney was speaking into her recorder. "First dose initiated," she says. "No progress. Proceeding to second dose." Emmett was too busy screaming to feel the next needle piercing his skin. Almost immediately the pain grew worse. It now felt like thousands of needles were digging into his skin, as the worst headache ever started throbbing in his head.

 _Nothing,_ he thought he heard Dr. Kinney say, but he had been watching her the entire time and did not see her lips move as she observed him. But that was her voice he heard. He could feel tears streaming down his face as he watched her grab a third syringe. "Please," he begged. "D-don't do this."

Dr. Kinney ignored him, injecting the needle and started what felt like a drill going through his skull. He'd scream but the burning sensation in his lungs made him lose his voice as she started prepping the fourth and final one. Emmett shook his head. There was no way his body could handle another syringe, he would die. He tried to find the voice to get Dr. Kinney to stop but it was buried deep under all the pain. He just wanted everything, all the pain to-

 _STOP!_

Dr. Kinney's entire body froze just as she was about to inject him. All the pain he felt was suddenly gone, replaced by what felt like a presence of everyone in the room...in his head. It dawned on him that maybe he did hear Dr. Kinney, only he heard her through her thoughts.

 _These doctors are lucky the pay is good,_ thought one guard.

 _Hopefully he doesn't grow teeth like the other,_ thought another. Then a vision filled his head, a memory of the guard fighting off a wild looking Hilda as her teeth sunk into another guard's leg. Emmett noticed the fur that had grown over her arms and the claws she had developed to slash at Dr. Kinney's lab coat.

 _Why isn't she moving?_ Pierce thought. "Doc?" He said aloud.

"He's controlling me," Dr. Kinney said, her body still not moving.

"Shit," Pierce cursed, shooting his hand to his comm-link.

 _Nobody move,_ he commanded. All three men stopped advancing on him, wide eyes as they did. A thought came to Emmett as he turned to Dr. Kinney. "Untie me," He told her. Dr. Kinney dropped the syringe and started unbuckling his restraints. He just got out of the bed when Pierce's metal arm shot up to his link.

"Flip the switch!" He ordered. Suddenly the room turned a dark shade of red and Emmett felt lightheaded before a guard tackled him down. He was struggling with the guard as Pierce walked over to him, grinning. "Well it's a good thing Dr. Rice predicted this and installed a satellite device to shut your little mind up now, didn't he?"

"Impressive telepathy," Dr. Kinney said into her recorder. "Able to use mind control with or without verbal commands. Doesn't seem to require eye contact like most beginner telepaths."

"Is he done?" Pierce asks her. Dr. Kinney nods her head yes.

"Take him back to his room," she orders. "Tomorrow Dr. Rice will see the results of his work." Emmett struggled as the two guards pulled up to his feet. He tried to order them but he didn't feel connected to their minds anymore. And once Pierce injected him with another syringe, he didn't feel connected to anything as he passed out once again.

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.

Martha couldn't contain herself as soon as she woke up the next day. Although yesterday she felt what was probably going to be the worst pain of her life, she could now say it was worth it. Everything Dolores and the other nurses said came true, Dr. Kinney made her like one of the superheroes in the comics. Although none of them had the power like she did, but she figured that would be the case. She had just finished breakfast, Paola told her that they were going to show their new abilities to Dr. Rice afterwards so she ate quickly before walking to her door with her spoon. She clanked the spoon on the bars of her door, waiting until Dino appeared across from her in his. He was wearing a short sleeved shirt, which showed the few bruises he had gotten from his time with Dr. Kinney, Martha assumed it was due to his gift being more powerful.

Dino was all smiles as he looked at her. "You called?"

"Still believe in your conspiracy theories?" She asked, grinning.

"Well there's still no proof that we were actually sick," He pointed out. "How sore are you?"

"It feels like my legs are going to turn into mush any second now!" She teased, joining Dino as he laughed. They stopped however when the nurses showed up. Martha walked away from her door to grab her empty tray. When her door beeped open, she gave Paola a hug before handing her the tray. "Where do they want us?"

"It's a new training room," Paola tells her. " _Vamonos,_ Dr. Rice can't wait to see all of you!" Martha follows her out of her room, joining Dino, Hilda, and Simone. Hilda's now sporting a busted lip and bruised cheek, making Martha quickly wrap her arms around her.

"Are you ok?" she asks. Dino had said the guards were rough on him, but she couldn't think they'd be so rough on Hilda, who was the smallest out of all of them. Hilda nods her head, saying that it doesn't hurt when Gabriela brings Emmett and Darek to the group, who also look pretty banged up. From there the nurses start leading them to where Dr. Rice is waiting, letting them chat with each other. Darek was the most excited to show everyone his power, saying it was 'easily the best one to have' the whole time they took to walk to the room.

Simone, on the other hand, had not said one word and didn't seem to have so much as a scratch on her. Martha asked her why that was and her eyes quickly filled with tears. "Nothing happened to me," she whispered. "I don't have any powers." Simone was crying now, leaning down to bury her head in Hilda's neck as the other supported her. Martha, Dino, and Darek were quick to support her as well, although it was obvious they were all stunned. When Martha glanced at Emmett, it didn't look like the news phased him, almost like he knew already. Still, he came over as well, comforting Simone until she stopped crying.

The new training room was the biggest room Martha has ever been in. Sitting in their chairs were Dr. Rice and Dr. Kinney as well as several other people she didn't recognize. Pierce and his men were blocking all the exits, armed with guns of course. Dolores whispered something into Simone's ear and then lead the girl to go sit with everyone else as Dr. Kinney stood from her chair.

"I want to thank each of you for joining us," She says, looking at all of them. "You were all very brave in your operation yesterday, we would like to show Dr. Rice the abilities you've all developed so he can figure out the best way to proceed. " She turned to Dr. Rice. "Up first we have subject **X-02,** Hilda."

Hilda nervously glanced at the group before walking to the center of the room. Martha watched as the red head closed her eyes and suddenly hunched over. Her clothes began to rip, reddish-brown fur beginning to poke out as a low growl came from Hilda's gut. Hands turned to clawed paws and soon a giant wolf sat where Hilda once stood. Dr. Kinney looked down at her notes. "She also has the ability to shift into a transitional form between human and wolf," She explains, turning to the canine. "Hilda, I ask that you stay in your form for now. Up next we have subject **X-03** , Martha."

Although Martha didn't like that she was being called a subject, she broke away from the group, passing Hilda as the wolf trotted back to the group. When she was in the center of the room, Martha swept around everyone with her eyes. Dino caught her gaze and gave her a thumbs up. She took a deep breath, opened her mouth, and began to sing. She could feel all the vibrations leaving her throat and she closed her eyes to imagine what those vibrations would look like. There was a few gasps and when she opened her eyes she saw the dazzling lights dancing around her to the rhythm of her voice. She didn't stop until Dr. Rice started to clap.

Darek was next, who let out an obnoxious roar before shocking everyone. He grew to be about ten feet tall and every single inch of his body had turned into hard rock. Darek laughed as he started flexing his boulder muscles, his voice way deeper than it was when he was human. Dr. Kinney had him test his strength by punching through blocks of concrete that Pierce and his men had brought in. He returned to normal and happily jogged back to the group as he was replaced by Dino.

Martha couldn't help but be a little excited at what Dino's power was. She had showed him hers last night through the doors but he told her he wouldn't be able to show his in his room. She watched as he closed his eyes, focusing on something when a red glow started forming around his body. To everyone's amazement, the red glow transformed into a giant suit of armor, Dino visible as he floated in the center, the armor being about seven feet tall. Now she knew why he couldn't show her, he wouldn't have been able to fit in his room. Dino also had to show the armor's strength as he punched through concrete blocks as well and even had Pierce shoot at it, none of his bullets leaving marks on the red armor.

Emmett was next and Martha could tell Dr. Rice was excited to see him. Dr Kinney cleared her throat. "Emmett, the sensors blocking your mind have been turned off. Tell me, how many minds can you read?"

 _Emmett can read minds?_ Martha thought, jumping a little when Emmett caught her glance. He turned to the Doctor, however, and just pointed at Hilda in her dog form. "Only Hilda, ma'am." Dr. Rice arched his brow as he glanced at Dr. Kinney who only seemed slightly annoyed.

"Yesterday you were able to control me, Mr. Pierce, and his men," she accused. "That's four individuals compared to the one you claim today."

Emmett shrugged his shoulders. "You were closer to me yesterday." Dr. Kinney nodded before motioning for three of Pierce's men to walk up to Hilda. Emmett nodded. "Yeah now I can hear them."

"Prove it," Dr. Kinney ordered. Martha and Dino glanced at each other.

 _What did she want him to do? Make them dance?_ She thought. She noticed Emmett's lip twitch up before focusing his eyes on the men. Then, as if a sudden urge took over them, all three broke out into a ballet, moving their arms gracefully as they leaped across the room. Darek was in hysterics and Hilda yelped as she was suddenly back to her human form. Martha could tell by her wide eyes that transforming back wasn't her own doing.

"Fascinating!" Dr. Rice cheered. "Simply fantastic. Congratulations, Dr. Kinney!" Everyone in the room clapped as Dr. Kinney mouthed her thanks. Dr. Rice turned to the camera and made a sort of motion then the building quickly flashed red before going back to normal, the three guards stopping their dance. Martha figured whatever device they have to shut out Emmett's powers was back on again. Dr. Rice was still grinning as he outstretched his hand to Martha and the group. "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the future!"

It wasn't until they were leaving to their rooms that Martha nudged Emmett's arm. _You lied,_ she thought. _You made those soldiers dance because you read my mind._ Emmett didn't bother hiding his smirk, but it appeared to everyone else that he was smiling at the joke Darek had just told. She knew he was lying! The fact that he could still read her mind despite the device being on proved Emmett was stronger than he was letting on.

 _So why are you hiding the truth from Dr. Rice and Dr. Kinney,_ she thought, watching as this time Emmett frowned. He didn't say anything until she was back in her room and the door had closed shut.

 _I'll explain later,_ his voice said in her mind, causing her to jump and shout in surprise.

"You ok?" Dino asked, looking through his own door.

"Yeah," Martha shouted, walking to her bed.

 _But who knows how long that'll be._

 ***A/N: Hey everyone, I hope you enjoy this next chapter! The second serum is just a drug that stimulates a huge amount of pain in the body so that the experiments' mutant gene can activate. I'd love to hear what you all think of the story so far so please feel free to leave a review. The story won't always be told by Emmett and Martha, especially as more and more experiments show up so look forward to that! I should have another chapter up soon!**


	3. Chapter 3

**II.**

Simone sat out on the sidelines as she watched the others train with their new powers. It had been like this for the last couple of days. After her initial failure to respond to the growth serum, Dr. Kenney and Dr. Rice studied her to see where they went wrong. Where she went wrong. Dr. Rice gave the OK for her to have the serum given to her again and she's been prepping for it since. It sucked. Watching the others do amazing things with their new gifts while she was still sick and could potentially die.

"Get out of your head, Simone." Emmett is by her side, wiping away the sweat on his forehead with his towel. Despite whatever machine the facility had to block Emmett's powers, he was still able to read the thoughts of all the other subjects. Martha hypothesized that it was due to all of them being together when given the first growth serum. "You're going to be fine."

"And if I'm not?" With every testing for cures, nothing was 100%. Maybe Simone was just part of the percentage that failed.

"You will," Emmett declares. "They have us developing our powers for a reason. If things don't work out with your serum maybe one of us can heal you."

Simone laughs harshly. "I doubt Hilda turning into a dog will get the cancer out of me, Emmett." Just then she watches as Hilda crushes a flying disk sent her way with her teeth. Out of all of them, Hilda was her favorite to watch demonstrate her powers. Maybe it was because the two have become so close.

"Simone," Paola calls from the door. "Dr. Kenney is ready to see you."

Simone lets out the air she had been holding and gets up from her seat. She says goodbye to Emmett and Hilda, who came over to hug her, and leaves into the hallway with Paola. On her way to Dr. Kenney's office she passes Darek, who also wishes her luck. The male's been spending much of his practice with Pierce and his men. With his abilities, Pierce recommended taking him under his wing and training him to be apart of security. Of course Darek was excited to hear the news, despite claiming his hate for the blonde gunman on more than one occasion.

Walking into Dr. Kinney's office sent painful flashbacks of from her first experience. Resting on a lab tray next to an empty chair were four syringes with glowing blue liquid inside all of them. Last time Dr. Kinney had to give her all four syringes and she felt as if she was on the brink of death. Now, as two unfamiliar guards strapped her into the chair, she hoped that today wouldn't be the case.

Dr. Kinney was beside her in moments, a recorder in her hand. "Beginning serum dosage to experiment **X-01** ," she says into the device. Simone's breath is fast as she watches Dr. Kinney take the first syringe and inject it into the vein in her arms. She waits for the pain to come, but it doesn't. Time passes by and she just starts to think the serum was working when blackness started forming from the corner of her eyes.

"No," she whispered, watching as the darkness continued to spread over her eyes. "I can't see!" Everything was pitch black. She could still feel the cold chair underneath her, which was the only reason she didn't completely lose her mind when she felt the second syringe enter her veins. Then the surface of her skin started to burn, as if someone were holding a lit flame to it. Simone squirmed in her seat but couldn't escape the pain, even after the third syringe went in.

"There is still no progress with experiment **X-01** ," She hears Dr. Kinney report just as she begins to feel weight on her chest. Breathing is starting to get harder and soon she's suffocating, wanting everything to end when the fourth and final syringe goes in.

"Make it stop," she manages to choke out. A sharp pain shoots through her head, getting more intense due to the lack of oxygen in her lungs. Nothing can be worse than this. She almost wants to just live with the cancer growing inside her rather than this. Suddenly the pain disappears and she regains her vision. She didn't realize she had been screaming until she felt how tired her throat was. Gasping for air, she looks over to see Dr. Kinney throw the empty syringes away. Simone could tell she was upset.

"The procedure was a failure," Dr. Kinney says into the recorder. "Will follow up with a report after clean-up." She presses the stop button and glances in Simone's direction before turning her attention to the guards. "You can take her back to her room now."

Simone waits until the guards have her on her feet, each holding her up by her arms. "What now?" she asks. "What will happen to me?"

"Nothing good." There's no pause in Dr. Kinney's response. No sign that she feels bad for whats about to happen to her. Simone can feel the tears running down her face as she's escorted out the halls. She hated that she felt like some kind of lab rat when she was with Dr. Kinney and Dr. Rice. It made her feel expendable.

.

.

.

It's been a week since Simone failed to produce any powers. Emmett tried to comfort her, but she really only talks to Martha and Hilda. He respects that she needs some time alone, which is why he doesn't even read her thoughts anymore either. He still can't figure out why he's able to stay connected with the others telepathically despite Dr. Rice's invention designed to block his abilities but he still tries not to invade their personal thoughts. The only times he can't really help it is when one of them start feelings strongly or intensely about something, which often times gets picked up by Emmett. It happened when Simone was getting the serum and it nearly broke his heart when he couldn't do anything but listen.

It also happened when Dino and Martha suddenly felt the same type of excitement and nervousness. It took a little probing around to figure out that the pair had shared a kiss during training, must have done it quickly while the guards were busy. Emmett was happy for them, with all these days dedicated to training he was glad they could find time to enjoy themselves.

If anyone was getting more and more dedicated to training, it was Darek, and Emmett didn't know how he felt about that. The other male was getting closer and closer to Pierce, who didn't exactly try to bond with the others now that they had powers. When they displayed their powers to Dr. Rice, Emmett tried to gather as much information from anyone that weren't his friends as he could. He couldn't read anything on Dr. Rice, but he picked up a faint memory of Pierce's. Emmett suspects he lost his arm to the people who were born with powers like them. Mutants. Gabriela and the other nurses said that the mutants were wiped out now and Emmett wondered if Pierce was happy about that.

"Spacing out again?" Emmett blinked and looked at the controller in his hand and then at the television screen. Lost in thought, Dino had managed to find where his character was hiding in the game and shoot him with no issue. Emmett apologized before focusing his attention on the screen as his character was brought back to life. Sundays were usually leisure days and everyone went to the play room to relax. The nurses would bring home cooked meals and after a little convincing, even Simone came out of her room.

"I got new comics!" Paola said cheerfully, placing two new X-Men comics on the shelf where the others were being kept now. Emmett didn't really read them but he knew Darek and Hilda enjoyed them. And if Hilda enjoyed something, so did Simone. He watched as the little red head grabbed one of the comics and went to sit by Simone on the other couch.

Martha scooted closed to Dino as she watched to two of them play. "I'll play winner," she says. Emmett groans when it looks like the winner's going to be Dino. His eyes are glued to the screen when he feels a wave of adrenaline hit him. It's rare when he picks up something from a mind that isn't one of his friends, Dr. Rice's device was just that good. He doesn't even have time to think about what he just felt when Pierce and his men, about fifteen of them, start pouring into the room. Emmett notices they're all dressed in heavy armor.

Pierce searches them all until his eyes land on Simone. "Grab her," He demands. Five men rush forward and everyone else springs into action as they all suddenly yank her on her feet.

"Where are you taking her?!" Dolores demands, trying to break Simone free from the guards.

"It seems Dr. Rice and Dr. Kinney have given up on our little Simone," Pierce explains, grinning. "She's being released."

"No," Simone gasps, starting to struggle with the men. "I can't leave! I'm not cured!"

"Don't worry, sweetheart," Pierce assures her, taking off the safety of his gun. "We were instructed to make sure you don't suffer anymore."

"You can't kill her!" Martha screams, jumping to her feet. Emmett and Dino do the same. Simone's screaming now as the guards literally drag her away. Emmett swears under his breath. There's too many of them, but they can't let them get away with this.

"LET HER GO!" Hilda growls, right before leaping at the guards. She shifts into her wolf form mid-air and sinks her teeth into one of the guards. A yelp escapes her mouth as numerous darts splay all over her body.

Emmett locks eyes with Dino before nodding his head. Dino closes his eyes and soon he's covered in a bright red armor. The guards shoot darts towards him, but when those fail they turn to regular bullets. Dino shields Emmett and Martha as the latter starts to sing a soft harmony. When lights start to form around her she expands it, blinding the guards long enough for Emmett to spring into action. Even if his powers are blocked, he could still fight. He slams his fist into the nearest guards jaw, before tackling Pierce to the ground. When they land on the floor they start fighting for dominance.

"Piece of shit," Pierce mumbles, punching Emmett in the gut with his robotic arm. Emmett grunts at the pain but returns a punch of his own before they both start tumbling around. Emmett's just getting the upper hand when two guards show up and pin him down. Emmett struggles but he can't break their hold. He spots Darek hanging off on the other side of the room.

"Do something!" Emmett cries out. Darek looks like he's about to listen when Pierce grabs Martha, takes out his knife, and holds it to her throat.

"Don't you fucking dare," he threatens. He turns his attention to Dino. "Power down, or I'll paint these walls with her pretty blood." Dino quickly lets the armor disappear and no sooner than it's gone does a dart hit him in the neck. Emmett is still being held down as Simone gets dragged away, her terrified screams slowly quieting as she goes further and further into the halls. When it's silent, Pierce releases his grip on Martha, who's crying by the time she runs into Gabriela's arms.

When the guards let him go, Emmett quickly stands. "You can't do this," He tells the blonde.

Pierce arches his eyebrow. "Might I remind you that this facility is not here to service you," He says. "Sure Dr. Rice is doing you a solid by curing your cancer and making you into a bunch of super freaks, but make no mistake. You're all replaceable." He leaves. Emmett walks over to check on Hilda, who got hit with way too many darts as Martha and the nurses continue to sob for Simone.

For the first time since he was born in that machine, Emmett didn't feel like these walls holding him here were a sanctuary. They felt like a prison.

.

.

.

Gabriela and the other nurses were ordered to put the others in their rooms. A couple of the guards had to carry Hilda and Dino but Pierce wouldn't let any of them check on them. Her hands were still shaking as she made her way to the break room. Paola was crying into her hands and Dolores was making coffee. Gabriela was quick to be on the older woman's side.

"We need to talk about this," she said in her native tongue. She knew a lot of the guards came from the U.S. and didn't know much Spanish. It's why she was very adamant that the kids learn it.

"Not here," Dolores says. Gabriela realized she was trying to act calm but that her cup was shaking as well. She motioned for her and Paola to follow her into the closet where they keep the cleaning supplies. Once they were inside she tossed her drink in the trash.

"They took her!" Paola cried. "They took her and are going to put her down like a lame horse!"

"I didn't sign up for this," Gabriela said. " I don't care if they made them older, they're still kids! Our kids!"

"Simone was barely older than my Roberto," Paola sobs. "If that happened to him-"

"We need to get them out of here," Dolores says. "I've had a feeling that this company was lying to us. I don't think these kids even had cancer."

"What are they going to do to them?" Gabriela asks.

"I don't know, but it can't be good," Dolores responds.

"What are we going to do?" Paola asks.

"For now, we're going to do our jobs," Dolores says. "They can't know we're up to something or they'll just fire us. Let them think we're still naive. Gabriela, start recording everything. When the time comes we're going to need proof with what they're doing here. Paola, make sure your parent's home in Phoenix is in good condition."

"We won't be safe in America!" Paola argues. "They got the government on their side."

"We won't stay in America for long," Dolores tells her. "I heard Dr. Rice talking with his sponsors the other days. Apparently there still might be some mutants living out in Canada. Their location is in hiding, but they might be easy to find if they're not being sought after by a foe. I'll do some more digging but until then start saving every penny you have."

"How long?" Gabriela asks. "How long do we have to act like their suffering doesn't affect us?"

Dolores looked at her, defeated. "As long as it takes."

 ***A/N: Hey everyone! I hope you like this update! Please leave a review and let me know what you think so far! Expect another update soon!**


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